Am I doing this right?

ThatFrigginGuy99

Quick stats: 32, 6'0", and 211 and very active. MFP recommends 2560 calories to which i usually get to 2000-2300. According to MFP, my morning runs burn 400 cal, mechanic work burns 1000 cal, and afternoon swims burn 750 cal.

Problem: MFP usually looks like this: 2560 (recommended intake) -2000 (actual intake) +2150 (burned cal) = 2650.<--- What am i supposed to be doing with this number? Eating it back? I have a hard time meating the 2560 goal without having to eat more back.

Thoughts? GO!!!

kommodevaran

1) Eat back half of your exercise calories. Numbers are usually inflated.
2) Monitor your weight - this is important feedback - adjust your intake as needed according to real life results.
3) Log correctly - you may be eating more than you think. There are some common traps that "everybody" seems to fall into. Please open your diary if you're comfortable with that, to let people spot problems.
4) Eat normal food, not just low calorie food. "Diet food" is made to be "filling", but not necessary, because modern approaches (like MFP) means you are only eating below maintenance, not starving yourself.
5) If you're overweight, you can be certain that not being able to eat enough isn't a real issue.
6) If you're indeed eating too little, the effect won't be felt immediately, but it surely will later, and not going to be pretty. Log correctly and hit your calorie goal.

TavistockToad

Your daily activity shouldn't be logged as exercise.

Blitzia

TavistockToad wrote: »

Your daily activity shouldn't be logged as exercise.

This. If you set yourself as "very active" on MFP, you'll be double-counting some of your exercise. Also, how did you get the 1000 calorie estimate? That sounds high, but my frame of reference is for a 5' person, so maybe that's accurate.

But otherwise, with the way MFP is designed, you're supposed to eat your calorie goal plus exercise calories, so that would put you at 4710 calories you need to eat. Since that's like a Dwayne Johnson diet, your exercise calorie estimates are probably too high.

ThatFrigginGuy99

Sorry for the delay. Thank you guys for the input.

skymningen

Are the numbers of the exercise calories really inflated? Then I must be doing something wrong, because my exercise calories for 15 min cardio + 45 min weight training are minimal. As in "You gained 59 additional calories through exercise". I have no idea how I would ever gain 1000 calories through exercise.

ThatFrigginGuy99

I cross compare between what MFP days and at least two other credible sources, then average.